The Ballad of the Talking Hands
by writer writing
Summary: When Sister Ruth encounters a family with deaf children, whose ears she cannot open, she feels the burden to bring the gospel to their isolated world. Finding the help of a teacher of the deaf, who is a proponent of oralism, seems heaven-sent, but she soon finds herself at odds with the woman. AU. 1848. Nineteenth in a series.
1. Chapter 1

Sister Ruth and Kid Cole were in New York to hear the revivalist, Charles Grandison Finney, speak. He was a radical preacher, believing in equal education for everyone, including African Americans and women. He also preached that one was saved from hell when they were saved from their sins. Ruth believed all this too and found his preaching inspirational, so Kid had surprised her with this trip for their anniversary.

In the course of their visit, they'd heard of an unusual church, _St. Ann's Church for Deaf Mutes._ It was exceptional in that it had a service on Sundays for the deaf. She'd never heard of a church doing that before. It might have been the one and only of its kind.

They'd had a regular service that morning for the hearing, but Sister Ruth was interested in the one that took place in the middle of the afternoon for those who couldn't hear.

Kid smiled as he watched his wife shift on the pew with excitement as she waited for church to start. "You'd think you couldn't hear," he teased, "you're so happy about taking part in this service."

"It's not that. It's just I never fully realized before that our deaf brothers and sisters couldn't be fed inside a church, couldn't worship in a church, at least not without feeling cut off. I'm excited for them."

He patted her knee. "I know you are, baby. That's why I love you."

The minister spoke, but he interpreted with his hands as well.

"Wow, his hands really fly," she whispered in amazement.

"They have to; he's a Yankee. They all act like they got to push their words out before the world comes to an end."

She was torn between laughing and chastising. She did neither though in the end as she caught sight of some of the enraptured looks of the small group of people receiving the gospel in this unique way.

 _May 1848_

Brothers were born for adversity. They were also born to pummel each other.

Ruth's sons were going at it in the back of the wagon. Isaiah, a strapping six-year-old, currently had Gideon pinned underneath his superior weight, but Gideon was scrappy and his little fists were flying.

Her two sweet sons couldn't have been much more different from each other.

She understood Gideon's problem well because she had suffered with the same problem, still did really. He was born with too much energy and when you were stuck in the back of a wagon all day with little to do but enjoy the scenery, that energy had to go somewhere. And it was all too tempting for a four-year-old boy to release it and stir up some excitement with an easily riled older brother.

Kid passed the reins and reached back snagging the back of Isaiah's collar to pull him off. "If ya'll want a fight, I'll give you one. We're here now, so get yourselves together."

Mercy, the eldest child, was safely quelled up in the corner, reading. Though she looked up to see what would happen now that her father had gotten involved.

Though wearing a sullen expression, Gideon backed off. Isaiah didn't know the meaning of letting sleeping dogs lie; he was still ready to finish it. Kid hauled him through the opening of the covered wagon and pinned him to his lap until he was ready to simmer down.

Which didn't fully happen until the revival had started that evening, and only then because he'd fallen asleep. Gideon wasn't far behind him. Mercy stayed at the wagon to make sure they didn't wake up and have an episode during the revival.

Ruth had the singing and preaching first, but she finished with faith healing.

Four girls and a boy came up. She'd never had so many from the same family come up at once. They looked healthy enough with varying shades of golden hair and rosy cheeks. Their parents weren't lacking in the ability to get them medical treatment for their clothes were finely tailored and made with rich fabric.

"Hello, children, ain't ya'll a handsome bunch?" Sister Ruth greeted then. "And you've all been setting through the service so nicely." They had no reaction to her compliments though they looked straight at her. She looked to their mother for an answer.

"My babies can't hear, not a single one of them. They were born deaf and so are mute. I'm wondering if you can open their ears?" She was hopeful, yet Ruth could tell she was trying not to get her hopes up.

God had given people their hearing back both in the Bible and in her revivals. She couldn't ask the children to have faith because she couldn't talk to them, but she could still ask the Lord to restore their hearing.

Placing a hand on the oldest and youngest child, she prayed, "Father, have mercy on these little ones. Bless them. We ask You to give them their hearing, so they can hear all the wonderful things You have to tell them and praise Your name, but above all we ask for Your will to be done. In Your Son's holy name we pray, amen."

When the prayer produced no responses of surprise or delight or any of the things a child hearing for the first time might experience, the mother became crestfallen. Ruth's spirits lowered with hers.

This family pulled on her heartstrings, the isolation the children must feel separated from the people around them and not to know how much God loved them. Her heart became burdened for them to learn the gospel, to be able to do something as simple as talk to their parents. There had to be a way.


	2. Chapter 2

Sister Ruth tossed and turned all night. She knew she had to be disturbing Kid, so at last she climbed out of their cot, since she wasn't going to be sleeping anyway.

He was awake and alert enough to realize she was gone. "Can't sleep, darling?"

"I can't stop thinking about the deaf children," she said, rubbing her arms from the chilly night air. She peeked out past the sheet covering that granted them privacy to make sure their children were warm. They were sleeping like rock under all their covers.

"I figured as much, but you tried; what else can you do? It's in God's hands."

"I know I can't heal them, and it must not be God's will for them to hear, at least not at the moment, but I don't believe He cut them off their fellow man, left them without a way to know Him. He don't work that way."

Kid sat up. "You think doctors could help them?"

"I was thinking of a teacher."

"A teacher?"

Suddenly excited at the idea, she sat back down on the cot. "You know how we meet people from all over?"

"And you seem to have a way of extracting their life story and becoming bosom friends with them, I know."

"Well, there was this lady I met one time. She came from this island, Martha something or other, anyway they have an unusual number of people there who can't hear, and they've learned how to converse with the hearing and the deaf and become one community. If we could find a teacher, who could teach them this voiceless language, they wouldn't be so cut off."

Kid smiled, seeing that her cheeks were glowing with passion even under the moonlight. "That sounds like an idea. You'll have to pass it by the parents, I guess, but I don't see why they wouldn't agree. You're determined to help them, ain't you?"

"I can't explain it other than God has laid it on my heart."

"I can explain it. You're a good woman," he said, kissing her rosy cheek. "Now lay down and get some sleep."

sss

The house was two stories, pale yellow with black shutters and a large porch made for visiting. It had a swing tied to a tree branch out front. It looked friendly and inviting despite the opulence of the place. Ruth hoped that held true for its occupants.

She'd brought her kids along in hopes their children would make friends and to give Kid some alone time he deserved. She knew the boys' fighting was driving him crazy because it was driving her crazy.

The father came to the door. He was a burly man, graying at the temples, and he didn't look happy to see her.

"Hello. Remember me? I'm Sister Ruth. I never did make ya'll's aquainatace official like."

"Gilbert Price."

Sensing he wasn't the type of man who wanted to be called brother, especially after the failed healing attempt, she addressed him more formally, "Mr. Price, I'd like to come in and talk to you and your wife if that's alright."

"I told my wife you were a fake. Told her not to get her hopes up, but she did anyway. I don't believe I care to have you in my house."

"Please. Just hear me out." She spoke softly and didn't even tried to argue against the assault on her character.

"Who is it, Gilbert?"

"No one, Rhonda. Go back to your needlepoint."

But she didn't listen to her husband and peered past him to see who it was. "Sister Ruth, come in. And you brought your children. How lovely."

Mr. Price reluctantly moved from the doorway to let them by.

Introductions were made. The boy's name was Calvin and the four girls were Lavinia, Elizabet, Angel, and Cordelia. The thought suddenly came to her that they didn't even know what their names were, having never been able to hear them.

Mercy and Isaiah were a little standoffish. Mercy was just shy and wanted to connect with them but didn't know how to go about it. Making friends just didn't seem to hold any interest for Isaiah, at least he showed no outward signs of being interested.

Gideon, as outgoing as she was, didn't know the meaning of the word stranger. She had told her children they wouldn't be able to hear, but Gideon was talking to them anyway, unaware it meant he couldn't have conversations with them.

Mercy saved the day in the end though, showing her eleven-year-old daughter had a knack for putting herself in others' shoes. She'd brought along a ball. She pulled it from her pocket, and motioned for them to come outside.

The children looked to their parents for permission, and they gave a nod, and the kids all went to play outside.

It made it easier to talk without the children in the room. "I've been thinking hard about your situation, and I've remembered that there's this language the deaf can speak just using hands."

"They've developed some signs of their own. They're not stupid," Mr. Price said gruffly.

"No, they're not. That's why I think they could do this. And it's great they've developed signs, but I bet the signs are only for their most basic needs."

The husband and wife exchanged a look that said it was.

"With the help of a teacher, their language could become as rich as yours and mine. You could talk to them about God, current events, tell them stories, you name it. You're both wonderful parents; I know because they look happy despite their struggles, but it could help their futures if they could use this new language as a springing board to learn to write. That would open the doors up wide for them. It would allow them to speak with literate people."

She knew she had Mrs. Price's approval from the way she glowed at the thought.

Mr. Price was a harder sell. "How are you going to get a teacher to come out here to Missouri? We won't be separated from them."

"People are looking to move out west all the time. Missouri's hardly the end of the world, and teachers will work for room and board and just a little money to put back usually."

"We can afford it," Mrs. Price said, clasping his arm and hoping to persuade him. "What will it hurt to try?"

"Okay, Sister Ruth," he said, using her name with derision. "Bring us a teacher, and we'll see what happens."

The parents looked out the window where their children all played happily together in the yard, tossing the brown, leather ball around. All except for Isaiah, who just stood on the sidelines and watched. She hoped it gave them hope for the future, that it showed them their children didn't have to be shut away from the world.


	3. Chapter 3

Kid pulled the horses' reins hard causing the wagon to come to a fairly sudden stop at their camp site. They all jerked forward a little bit.

Gideon's cry of surprise was the loudest. "What in the world? I about swallowed my ball."

Ruth was overcome with a coughing fit to hide her laughter. She didn't have to ask why they'd stopped. The boys had been at it again.

"I'm going to tan y'all's hides in a minute," Kid warned.

Before he could make good on his threat, the boys jumped down from the wagon and ran their separate ways, which was no doubt was what he'd wanted them to do. One would have thought the feared Kid Cole would be a tough disciplinarian with his kids, but it was Sister Ruth, who made the tougher disciplinarian. Still, they knew if their father wouldn't go through with his promise to punish, their mother would do it for him, hence the running.

"Land sakes, those boys will be the cause of every gray hair that appears on my head," she said with a smile in her voice.

"I'll make sure they behave themselves," Mercy volunteered, putting the book she was reading down and getting down.

Her little girl was growing up, volunteering her services like that. She was proud and a little sad at the same time.

They had just come back from the general store. "Oh, I almost forgot," he said, "There was a letter for you."

It had taken a whole month to hear back, but it was from the deaf school she'd written in Connecticut, asking if they knew where or how she could procure a teacher. She tore it into it, eager for good news for the family.

It was better than she could have expected. One of their staff had been looking to make a change. They were an answer to each other's prayers. "A teacher's on her way as we speak."

"That's great news," he said. "We've about done all the revivals we can do in this area."

"I know. You wouldn't mind if we stayed for a while longer anyway, would you, honey?"

"Of course not. You really want to see this through, don't you? The Prices were lucky the day they got you in their corner." He smiled at her tenderly. "But me, I'm the luckiest of all cause I get to be married to you."

He always said the sweetest things despite all their years of marriage. If anyone was the lucky one, it was her. "I love you."

His lips were as sweet as his words. She could have lingered there all day if not for the disgusted groans of their watching children.

sss

The teacher was only a couple days behind the letter. Ruth had offered to meet and bring her to the house. Gilbert had been all too eager to relinquish the task, still being doubtful about the whole affair, and Rhonda was relieved not to have to take the children out as she worried about taking them anywhere there'd be lots of horses, since they wouldn't hear any cries to get out of the way.

She had taken Gideon with her to give the boys a chance to be apart for a little while, but it was a decision she regretted quickly. A minister stepped off the stagecoach first, and he was wearing an ankle-length black robe.

"Momma, why is that man wearing a dress?" he asked, not taking to care to lower his voice. In fact, she didn't think her son even knew what quiet meant.

She covered her son's mouth as subtly as she could and smiled politely as he passed. She used the other hand to cool her burning cheeks. Then she whispered. "It wasn't a dress. It was a robe like I wear during the revivals. Son, try to think before the words just come out of you."

The teacher had come out behind the man of God, and she looked a little uppity though pretty, but Ruth realized immediately that wasn't fair, judging by her appearance. However, she couldn't help noticing Miss Alice Knop was wearing a sour expression as if the world displeased her.

"You must be Mrs. Price," she said in a sharp and aloof tone.

"No, Sister Ruth Cole. I inquired on their behalf. And this is my son, Gideon. It's a real pleasure to meet you, Sister Alice."

Her eyes narrowed and her frown deepened as if she were turning the words over in her mind. She wouldn't have been the first to be opposed to her informal way of addressing people or to accuse her of being overfriendly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Cole," she said at last, the words said carefully and lacking emotion.

Her cold manner might have been off-putting to some, but Ruth wasn't the type to let her feelings get hurt though she sometimes stepped on others' toes defending the side of God in her personal crusades as Kid sometimes called them.

Ruth linked arms with her. "Right this way. I'm so glad you came. You're going to open up a whole world for these precious children, teaching them sign language."

"I have something better than sign language. Oralism." It was the first glimmer of a smile she'd seen on the woman.

Ruth was unfamiliar with the term. She came to a stop. "Oralism? What's that?"

She let out a sigh as if she were about to undertake the difficult task of explaining to an idiot. "It is where the students learn to read lips and form speech."

"You're serious? You mean they'll really be able to understand everything we say?"

"Yes, as long as they are looking at the person's lips."

"And they'll be able to speak?"

"Yes. They can be shown how to hold their mouth and use their breath with careful instruction. They will sound very odd because they can't hear their own voice, but they will be understandable."

Probably like Isaiah. His speech could be very garbled and hard for people outside his family to understand. She wondered sometimes if it was the reason her son rarely spoke to anyone but them.

It was amazing. This was going to be a bigger miracle than she could have dreamed of.


	4. Chapter 4

Gideon had caught onto the fact that the Price children couldn't communicate the normal way and had brought the ball back. He pulled it out of his pocket upon their arrival at the house with the teacher in company.

"No, honey," Ruth said as soon as she saw it. "They can't play today. They have school."

"Can I have school?" he asked.

She pulled him against her for a hug. "Maybe we can stay for a little while, but we don't want to be in the way."

Mrs. Price had opened the door before they had a chance to knock, eagerly awaiting the arrival.

Mrs. Price gushed over Alice. "I can't thank you enough for what you're about to do, Miss Knop. I shall endeavor to help you in any way I can. Just tell me what must be done, and it shall be."

Mr. Price came into the room less enthusiastic but tolerant, at least where Alice was concerned.

"And why are you still here?" Mr. Price asked in an unfriendly manner towards Ruth.

"I find myself asking the same thing," Alice said, taking her permission to be rude from the master of the house. "You have conducted me here, and I thank you, but you may take your leave."

"I was hoping to be of further service, and I admit I wanted to see how the children take to their new lessons, but I understand if you all want us gone."

Mrs. Price looked at her husband in a admonishing manner. "This wouldn't be happening without Sister Ruth. Aren't you excited we can share in family prayer and church will become more meaningful for them instead of just a place we drag them to every Sunday, and who better to tell them who God is than Sister Ruth when they learn to communicate?"

"I can think of a few," he mumbled. He still thought her a charlatan. Ruth couldn't really blame him. There were plenty of them out there in the faith healing circuit.

"I believe you all are thinking this will happen overnight or in weeks," Alice spoke up. "It may be months or years before progress is seen."

"I knew it," Mr. Price exclaimed. "This is a waste."

"All good things take time," Mrs. Price said determined to cling to hope as Mr. Price was determined to scorn it. "We understand if you can't afford the time it'll take to see progress," she said to Ruth.

"That's the great thing about working for the Lord. I come and go as I'm called. I could stay through to end of summer if I don't get a sign to move on."

"Oh, goody," Mr. Price mumbled under his breath loud enough to be heard by Ruth but low enough to escape an outright scolding from his wife.

Alice was about as thrilled as Mr. Price to have her about but determined to hold her tongue in deference to Mrs. Price.

"Come, Miss Knop," Mrs. Price said, "and I'll introduce you to the children and show you the room where you'll be sleeping and the room where you'll be teaching."

The children were in their play room where they would also have their lessons. Alice shook the children's hands from the oldest to the youngest. They were silent and curious. She mouthed hello to them slowly and carefully each time.

Miss Knop showed herself to be a hard worker because she'd hardly dropped her bag off in her room before she was back with the children and ready to begin.

Mrs. Price motioned for the children to take a seat at the desks their father had gotten for them. Ruth smiled as for such a skeptical father, it was a sweet gesture.

Alice began by pulling out a small elephant carved in ivory. They made excited noises that were crude for lack of being able to hear themselves.

Alice cringed. "We have to teach them not to do that or they'll never fit in with polite society."

"I'm sure they can't hear themselves," their mother defended.

"Of course, they can't, but they can learn to stop it," Alice said with authority.

She let the child feel it and then pointed to her mouth as she mouthed 'elephant'.

The children responded to the elephant, feeling the cool smoothness, but they didn't understand that she wanted them to try to imitate the motions of her mouth or connect them with the elephant.

She pulled out a fish carved in wood. The children looked and felt it too, but it wasn't as big a hit as the elephant, and they again didn't make the connection with what she was trying to teach them.

Gideon decided to offer his help such as it was. He turned around and blew up his cheeks as he stood up on his chair. He shortened his arms against his side and pretended his hands were fins. The children dissolved into fits of laughter.

Her son had learned the humor of silly faces didn't need translation either. Ruth swore he had to have been part monkey and all clown. And she couldn't pretend she wasn't the guilty party he had inherited it from. "I'm sorry. We'll come back some other time."

"Oh, please stay," Mrs. Price pleaded. "The children don't often make friends, and they love your son. He's quite amusing."

The incident had been amusing. The only one not amused was Alice, not that she could blame the woman when he was interfering with the lesson.

"We'll stay then, but you better behave yourself, Gideon, or you'll know it's school when I stand you in the corner with your nose pressed against the wall."

He seemed properly chastised and took his seat. Things got underway again as the animal lessons continued.

"I suppose I should see to lunch," Mrs. Price said at last. She didn't fool anyone with her shimmering eyes of unshed tears. Ruth's first impulse was to follow and reassure her it would all work out, but she probably needed some time to get it together.

A cow was the next animal on the list. Elizabet made a sign to her brother in their self-made language. It looked as if she were milking a cow. Considering Alice was holding up a cow, she was probably instructing him about what they called it, since he was the youngest of them.

"No!" Alice said sharply. Ruth was almost glad they couldn't hear her unkind tone.

Alice went over and put Elizabet's hands down and vigorously shook her head no. The girl looked on the point of tears.

Ruth thought she was being overly harsh. Even hearing people used hand signs when talking. She did herself, but she knew there those who associated it as being lower class as something only Jews and Italians did, who were considered second-class citizen by most though not Ruth, or God for that matter. It was hardly fair.

"Let them talk to each other. Who does it hurt? Their world's isolated enough without isolating them from each other." She shouldn't have spoken up, but the children couldn't voice their own arguments.

"And I don't want it to stay that way. Let me do my job. I know what I'm doing."

She let out a heavy sigh, forcing herself to calm down. "You're right. I'm sorry."

And the lesson continued.

"The owl says who." Alice drew quite a good picture of one and wrote the sentence, having run out of props apparently.

Just when she thought it was as useless to try as the other times. Alice used one hand to pucker their lips together and used the other to push on their stomachs to produce an oo sound.

They couldn't hear what they had done, of course, but they could see they had made their teacher very happy. Ruth and Gideon made sure they saw them clapping, too.

It wasn't much maybe after sitting for an hour, but it was something. Proof the lady did know what she was doing.

"You have a talent," Ruth said to her, hoping the genuine complement would pave the way to a better relationship.

"I do not have a salad. In fact, I'm quite famished," she said impatiently.

Ruth puzzled over her comment, trying to figure out how she had mistaken talent for salad. They sounded nothing alike to her, but different accents could lead to such misunderstandings, and they were from very different regions. "No, I said you're talented, but I'll see if Mrs. Price can bring you something to nibble on though it won't be much longer I reckon before lunch."

Alice's cheeks became stained with embarrassment. "No, don't trouble her. My mind was on food, l suppose. I can wait."

"Well, my husband is certain to wonder where we disappeared to. We'll get out of your hair."

Alice had turned her back to draw another animal and ignored her entirely, but she didn't intend to let that stop her from returning tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

A week came and went. Ruth didn't go to the Price household every day, remembering the proverb that both visitors and fish stunk after three days. When she did go, she alternated between the kids she took except for Isaiah, who didn't have the patience or desire to sit through a lesson.

She had Mercy along for this visit. "Momma, they look so sad," she whispered, so Alice wouldn't hear her. "I thought learning to talk would make them happy."

"Oh, I think it will, honey. It's just sometimes the learning ain't as fast or as easy as we'd like it to be."

"I reckon that's true," Mercy agreed.

Mercy was interested in the teaching and more mature than Gideon. It made her more pleasant to have along as she didn't have to constantly reprimand her, but she had to hand it to her son, Gideon did interact with the children more and were closer to their age. She'd have brought them both if Alice wouldn't have pitched a fit over it.

Alice looked close to pitching a fit as it was as she'd just caught two of the children using their signs again. "They're never going to learn if they stop using their hands." Alice left the room in a huff.

Figuring she was too exasperated to return right away, Ruth turned to the kids and smiled at them, hoping they didn't think they'd done anything wrong.

"That wasn't very nice," Mercy observed. "She should be patient with them."

"I'm sure she doing her best," Ruth said though secretly she agreed.

But Alice was back in a matter of minutes bearing various colored scarves.

"What are those?" Ruth asked.

Alice was too wrapped up in her task to answer her. She was proceeding to tie down their hands to their chair legs, and the kids were sweet enough not to fight her, but it was easy to see they were confused and a little frightened.

"Is that really necessary?" Ruth asked, standing up, so she couldn't be ignored when Alice turned to move to the front of the room again.

"Yes. It's for their own good. Not only will it help them learn faster, but they will make more friends with the right kind of people."

Ruth could practically feel the steam rising from her head. Was she insinuating her children weren't the right kind of people? "Anyone who would judge them for talking the only way they can isn't worth being friends with."

"Why not let them be the judge of that? I know what I'm doing. I'm the teacher here. And I did get Mrs. Price's permission, in case you had thoughts of making complaints against me."

The lesson continued, but it was easy to see the Price children were less attentive than before because they were upset. She didn't blame them. Tying their hands down was the same as gagging them. And she wouldn't like it if someone tied her down. Had their mother really agreed to this?

Alice broke her chalk against the slate in her frustration. She was trying to get them to say grape, but they still weren't getting the connection between the picture, letters, and the spoken word they couldn't hear. The sound they'd made after the first lesson must have been a fluke.

"I know this ain't my place to say," Ruth began.

"Then don't," Alice interrupted.

Ruth had her say anyway. "You'd be better off teaching them to sign, since they grasp that concept."

Alice slammed her hands so hard on desk, her hands had to be stinging. Both Ruth and Mercy jumped at the noise. "They will not become freaks to be pitied and gawked at under my watch."

"I think the freak is the one doing the pitying and gawking. Come on, Mercy. I think we've worn out our welcome for the day."

sss

Ruth rattled the spoon against the cast iron pot harder than necessary.

"I feel sorry for the person that anger's directed at," Kid said from behind her. "I know better than anybody what that's like. It ain't me, is it?"

She laughed. He knew good and well it wasn't. He just wanted to lighten her mood. "No, it ain't you."

He kissed the back of her neck. "That's a relief."

"It's that teacher, Alice Knop. God bless her cause the Lord knows I can't," she turned around to face him. "She's doing the kids more harm than good. She actually tied their hands down today."

He got serious. "Does she mean to do them harm?"

Her shoulders relaxed a bit at the truth of his words. "I suppose not. She's trying to help them."

"Is it possible you just hoped it would be a quicker and less painful process?"

Almost her exact word to Mercy earlier. "If she would just let them use signs. Folks can change the way they view the deaf; society can change. Why can't she just teach what's best for them?"

"Maybe you should talk to her about it."

"Oh, believe me, I have," she said, her dander still up. "Didn't do a bit of good."

"Well, then give her some time to think what you said over. If she don't soon make headway, she might see the wisdom of it or maybe the parents will insist on it."

Kid was her voice of reason. The remaining bit of her temper vanished. "You think you're smart, don't you?" She kissed him full on the mouth in love and appreciation. "You know something? You are."


	6. Chapter 6

Ruth took Kid's advice, and gave it time. A month went by, however, and the kids hadn't picked up on any more words or sounds than the first day, but the lessons frequently ended in tears. It broke her heart, and she usually ended up crying with them.

After a particularly difficult morning, Alice took her lunch in her room; Ruth and Gideon ate with the children. Mealtime was one of the few times their hands weren't tied, and they took full advantage.

Gideon and Calvin sped through their meal as only boys could.

"Can we go play ball now?" Gideon asked.

She smiled. "Why not? Although in the future, we need to work on your manners. Dinner is not a race."

"Oh, Momma," he said with a giggle like she'd said something funny. He pointed to Calvin and then he cupped his hand like he was holding a ball.

Calvin understood what he meant at once and nodded eagerly. Of course, that was what they played together the most and pointing was obvious to anybody, so it wasn't exactly a sophisticated and complicated communication, but she was impressed nonetheless.

"You've picked up on their signs?" she asked.

"Some of them. They don't have very many. I wish they knew more."

"Me too. That's wonderful though. More people should be like you and learn to take the time to figure out how to talk to folks." Children were so open, sometimes that was a blessing and sometime it was a curse. In this case, it was a blessing.

He was practically twitching with eagerness to get outside and play. She excused him with a laugh. "Go on. Get out of here."

"Boys," she said with a shake of her head toward the girls. Despite the fact they couldn't hear her or understand, she didn't want them to feel ignored.

She saw a children's Bible book sitting on the shelf. She used a similar one with her own kids. There were lots of pictures to make it more interesting. She got it off and flipped to one of Jesus sitting with children in His arms.

She wanted them to understand so much. Taking inspiration from Gideon, she tried using self-made signs. She pointed at the picture of Jesus in the book and made the shape of a heart and hugged herself, but she could see in their eyes they didn't understand except maybe the hug, but they didn't get what it had to do with the man in the picture.

"It's okay. He loves you anyway." She pointed up and hugged herself again.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked angrily though she already knew. "Are you trying to teach them signs?"

"It's nothing their own parents haven't tried, I know, and they have made a good bit of their own already."

"Don't you think I know that? That was before they knew better, and why do you think I tie their hands down during lessons? You, ma'am are impeding their progress."

Ruth threw her hands up into the air in exasperation, wondering if the kids knew the meaning of that particular gesture. "What progress?"

"Don't you understand anything?" she said, stamping her foot. For a woman who didn't believe in gestures, Alice had a habit of slamming her hands or stomping her feet when she was angry.

"It could help your work. Don't you think your job would be so much easier if you could tell them in sign to hold their mouth a certain way or breathe out? And even more importantly they could learn about the God who loves them."

"Ha," she shouted accusingly. "I thought as much. You're not interested in their wellbeing, just their souls."

"Being interested in their souls is being interested in their wellbeing. There's nothing more important, not even being able to speak."

Their voices had been raised rather loudly, and Mrs. Price had come to investigate. She looked at them both disapprovingly as if they were children. Ruth felt ashamed at not being able to hold her temper.

"I'm sorry, Sister Rhonda," Ruth apologized. "I should have held my tongue." Saying what was on her mind was both her greatest and worst fault.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. This is hard enough on them without you making it worse. They may not be able to hear you all yelling, but they can sense your discord. I know it's hard to see them struggling, but I trust that Miss Knop knows what she's doing."

It hurt to be banned from the house, from the children, but she wasn't their mother; she had to hope Rhonda knew best in letting Alice silence them from the only communication they knew. "I'll just collect Gideon, and we'll be on our way."

"I'm not telling you to never come back," Rhonda said, "I'm still very grateful, but she has to be given room and time to do her work."

"I understand." She went out front where the boys were running and tossing the ball as happy as larks despite their poor aim and catching, which were related to their age rather than a lack of athletic skill.

Gideon would be so disappointed to have to leave his friend, and Calvin would be sorry to se him go as well, but she called for Gideon, and he ran over. "Time to go, son. Say goodbye."

She felt like a gray cloud on a sunny day as she watched his shoulders deflate. He turned and waved goodbye and then she watched Calvin's good spirits go. She put a hand on Calvin's shoulder, hoping to communicate an apology. She wished she could explain why they had to leave though she wasn't sure she could even explain it to Gideon, and he did ask as they went on their way home.

"Why did we have to leave early, Momma?"

She ruffled his thick hair, the curly tips begging for a haircut. "Because we're a distraction, and we want to be able to talk to them and for them to talk to us, right?"

"I guess so, but I think I'd just rather play ball. And Calvin would, too."

"That's cause you're both four, but sometimes things are more important than what you want right now. We might have to stay away for some time. Patience is a virtue." The last part was directed more at herself than him.

"What does that mean?" he asked, squinting up in confusion.

"It means we wait."


	7. Chapter 7

"Oh, honey. You look so tired," Ruth said, putting her Bible down and going over to her returning husband and bringing her arms around him.

Since they weren't currently doing revivals, and they were in a sleepy town with no criminals with bounties to catch, Kid had gotten a job helping a farmer. It wasn't the best job as he was paid more in food than cash, but it put bread on the table.

The boys had turned in already, having gotten up extra early, and Mercy was reading in bed while there was still light to read by.

She saw the dirt caked under his nails. "Do you like this work?"

"Yep. It feels good to be working the soil like the good Lord intended. I'd much rather farm than gun people down any day."

"But what about the revival work? You'd rather be doing that, wouldn't you?"

"It's easier on the back, I admit, but it's nice to be the one earning a living for a change."

She had no idea that had bothered him. "Kid, if you'd rather-"

He interrupted, knowing where she was going with it. "That's not what I mean. I don't want you to give it up. I'm happy watching you do the Lord's work. I just want you to know I'm not unhappy having to farm for awhile."

"Oh, well good," she said, leading him to a bench. She wished they owned a regular chair for him to rest his back, but she supposed he would rest it when they went to bed. "To tell you the truth, I think they come to listen to you play more than they do to hear me preach."

"Don't patronize me," he said lightly. She moved behind him and felt the muscles in his shoulder. They were tight with knots from his hard day of work.

"You don't see how spellbound they are when you sing and play the guitar." She kneaded his shoulders. "All I do is let the Lord heal through me."

"Mmmm," he said in sheer bliss at her ministrations. "I know where the Lord put the healing power. In your hands."

He kissed the back of her hands to signal when he'd had enough.

"If you lay down, I can get your back, too."

The sparkle in his eyes and the smile on his face signaled what he thought of that, but then it was gone again as he remembered something. "Mr. Tucker wanted me to pick up a new hoe. I meant grab a bite to eat first, but your miracle hands distracted me. I better go get it now before the store closes." He sounded as tired as he looked, but he got to his feet.

"I can do it," she said, gently pushing him back down.

"Are you sure?" he asked even as relief flooded across his face and into his posture.

"You'll be doing me a favor. I need an excuse to stretch my legs, and I'd love to talk to some of the folks."

"Okay then, but be honest, you're just trying to escape after spending all day with the boys."

"Guilty as charged," she said though the smile she gave showed that she was only kidding.

"Were they good today?"

"Still working on their brotherly love. Though they played together beautifully for about an hour. I thanked God for small miracles."

"A small miracle? There hasn't been a bigger miracle since Moses parted the Red Sea."

She laughed heartily. "You're terrible talking our flesh and blood that way." She brought him over some of the soup beans, chow chow, and cornbread she'd fixed for supper before she left. "Enjoy, and I'll be back directly."

sss

"I've got a nail on my foot growing kind of crooked. You reckon there's anything you can do about that?" The woman's gray had about taken over her dark hair, but she looked only to be in her thirties or forties.

Ruth tried to hold back the laughter. She knew it was a painful condition that could become serious. "The Lord could heal you, sister, but if you just soak your foot and go barefoot for awhile, the problem should correct itself."

"Oh, thank you, Sister Ruth. It's like we've got a doctor now."

"I wouldn't go that far, but I am a healer, and I'm happy to help when I can."

The woman walked off, limping a little. She looked as if her cracked, black shoes were too tight, which was probably what had caused the ingrown toenail.

Ruth purchased the hoe just in time as the storekeeper had been about to close up shop.

When she came out the door, she spotted Alice's dark blonde chignon among the people walking down the sidewalk. She thought it must be Providence because it would give her a chance to apologize for the fight they'd had and find out if the children were advancing without her there.

"Sister Alice?" Maybe it was a little too informal for a woman she was currently at odds with though she still counted her as a sister. "Alice?" She kept right on walking. "Miss Knop?"

It was possible she couldn't hear over the clop of the hooves on the street and the den of the townspeople as it was a busy time of the day, but it wouldn't be the first time she'd ignored her. She was not the teacher's favorite person. Maybe she didn't want to admit there had still been no progress and that she'd been wrong about oralism.

Alice crossed the street. Giving up, Ruth sighed and turned to go, but the mail stage caught her attention. It came barreling through town, driving at its usual breakneck speed and whipping the horses into a frenzy, without regard to the fact they were driving in a populated area.

"Lady, out of the way!" the driver hollered at Alice for he had no way of slowing the horses down now.

Alice continued walking, heedless of the danger she was in.

The hoe clattered nosily on the wooden sidewalk as Ruth dropped it and sprung into action. She ran into the street and shoved her hard out of the way, falling with her and getting them both out of the stage's path just in the nick of time. She had put so much force into it out of necessity that it sent them careening into a pile of produce on display on the opposite sidewalk.

Alice gave no small cry of surprise at being pushed. It was then Ruth realized. "You can't hear!"


	8. Chapter 8

Alice blushed as if being called deaf was a badge of shame.

Sister Ruth got to her feet first and looked her self over. Other than a plum stain on her skirt and a scraped knee and forearm, she was in pretty good shape. Alice was in even better shape as Ruth had taken the brunt of the fall, but she looked more shaken up. Ruth helped her to her feet.

The townspeople gathered around.

"Are you alright?" asked one.

Before either one of them could answer, someone else said. "I like getting a letter or package as much as the next person, but that ain't no reason to run a body over."

"It was going lickety-split, that's for sure," another agreed.

After assuring everyone the stand and fruit had suffered more harm than they had and apologizing to the grocer, who went to seek out the driver to pay the damages, Ruth walked with Alice to a more secluded spot and asked, "You can't hear, can you?"

"It's true," she admitted reluctantly."I only have partial hearing. I started losing it as a child, and I'll probably be stone-deaf soon. I don't much lack it now."

"Then you know what it's like for those children better than anybody."

"I do know, and that's why I'm against sign. I used it for a time. There's no denying it's easier in ways, less miscommunications, but you don't know what it's like to be looked at like you're a freak of nature for something you can't help. The only way to blend is to be like everybody else."

"But you're not. They're not. We're not. Don't think I don't understand where you're coming from. I've seen people looking down at my son, Isaiah, for being different, for not always being able to be in control of his emotions and for his garbled speech as if it were possible to be less than who God made you to be."

"That's not the same thing at all."

"Ain't it? I've seen people looking at me like I've got three heads when I'm doing faith healing at my revivals, not used to seeing a woman preach or to see God's power in such open display. People are always going to scout out differences; I think it makes them feel better about themselves in some strange way, but you can't let it stop you from being what you were made to be."

"Thank you for saving me. I need to be more careful in the future." It was a polite way of saying she was done with this conversation, but Ruth wasn't.

"Listen, I think oralism is fine and even useful, but you got to use every tool at your disposal to help those kids be able to talk and understand."

She sighed. "I suppose I could try it. Just as a temporary fix, and I still plan on discouraging it out in public," she warned.

Ruth heard the warning, but she was too excited for the children to care. Though Alice wasn't the physically expressive type, she was, and she brought the woman into a warm hug.

"Anyone can tell you care about them," Alice said on her release. "I know it must hurt not to have been with them these past few weeks. It was just as much my fault as yours that we argued. I'm willing to let bygones be bygones and put in a good word for you."

Ruth was so happy, she could have hugged her again, but she didn't want to overwhelm the woman. She thanked her instead. She was on cloud nine all the way back to the campsite.

Despite being weary, Kid jumped to his feet at seeing her slightly hobble and the stain on her dress. "What happened to you?"

She laid the hoe in the wagon. "Oh, Alice was almost hit by a stage. I had to push her to safety," she said as nonchalantly as if she were talking about the weather.

"You what?" he asked, his unhappy tone indicating he'd heard her clearly.

"It was nothing really."

"It was something," he said directly in front of her now. "You could have been killed."

"But I wasn't and neither was Alice. God looked out for both of us."

He sighed and hugged her close. He didn't like that she put her life on the line without a second thought for another, but if she hadn't, she wouldn't be the woman he loved.

sss

Mrs. Price opened the door and smiled wide. "Miss Knop told me everything. I'm glad you've managed to work things out between you, and I'm glad you two weren't hurt. The children have missed you and your family."

"And we've missed them." Mercy and Gideon had both come with her today. Mercy offered a shy smile and Gideon moved past the adults to say hello to the Price children as at ease as if he'd never left.

As excited as she'd been to see everyone, she was even more eager for the lessons to begin. Ruth couldn't wait to see how they would respond to the sign.

After moving to the school room, Alice took the ivory elephant from the first day and handed it to Cordelia. This time, instead of trying to get her to imitate a noise she couldn't hear, Alice brought a hand to her own nose and moved it down like it was sliding down an elephant's trunk.

She didn't immediately copy. None of them did. Cordelia's face scrunched up with confusion at the obvious use of sign, and she sent a questioning look to her oldest sister, Lavinia, but Lavinia didn't know what to think either. Elizabet and Angel shook their heads no, telling her not to do it. They must have expected a trick after the lengths she'd gone to making sure they didn't use sign.

Alice repeated the sign, and Calvin cautiously imitated it.

Alice clapped and smiled, which gave the others the courage to try it. She let each of them touch the elephant and then copy the sign. They caught onto the connection immediately.

Alice drew a cat onto the slate, and then she put her thumb to her pointer finger and pulled it from the corner of her mouth out to the side, indicating a long whisker.

Ruth, Gideon, and Mercy did the signs with them. They were somewhat easy to pick up as the words had a logic to them unlike learning a foreign language.

It was beautiful to watch the way their eyes lit up as the Prices learned animal sign after animal sign. They could sense a whole world was about to open up to them. They didn't slow down until lunch.

Alice was smiling by the end of it. It wouldn't be long at the rate they were soaking up words before they could carry on conversations. And maybe before she could explain some of the oral techniques to them.

Rhonda Price came into the school room with lunches, almost tiptoeing. It was easy to see she was curious but cautious because she'd been let down before.

Mrs. Price had cut the children's sandwiches to look like rabbits. Elizabet put her hands to her head and wiggled them as she'd been taught.

"Is she saying rabbit?" Mrs. Price asked, her voice shaking a little.

"She is," Alice affirmed.

Mrs. Price bent down and kissed her daughter's cheek, tears of joy shimmering in her eyes.

"This calls for a celebration," Mrs. Price said, wiping her eyes. "Let's all go eat in the parlor, and I'll see about making some ice cream for everyone."

The Prices had a piano in their parlor. It had sat unplayed for some years because though Mr. and Mrs. Price enjoyed music; they felt guilty at not to be able to share it with their children, who couldn't hear it, so it had become more of a decoration than a thing to be used though they kept it in tune.

Ruth, not knowing and wanting a musical release for the overflowing happiness she had for the family, said to Mrs. Price, "You care if I play?"

Mrs. Price was too polite to refuse.

Ruth remembered a hymn she hadn't thought of in years, but one her mother was fond of. It was short and fitting to the occasion. She sang and played for the ones who could hear it.

"See gentle patience smile on pain. See gentle hope revive again. Hope wipes the tear from sorrow's eye. While faith points upward to the sky."

"That's a very sweet song," Mrs. Price praised.

Alice came over and put her hands on the instrument. "Would you play it again?"

Ruth was happy to oblige.

Alice smiled and motioned the children over. She had them all place their hands on the sleek, black wood, and they felt the vibrations of the instrument.

Their smiles were ones of delight and elation. They were "hearing" music in a way they hadn't known existed to them.

"Well, I'll be. I wouldn't have thought of them being able to feel music," Ruth said.

"I want to feel the music, Momma," Gideon said.

"Later," she said, embracing him and sitting him beside her on the bench. "There ain't room for everybody, and it's the only way they can hear it."

"I think this is one of the happiest day of my life," Rhonda said.

It was, indeed, a wonderful day. Ruth could see God turning Alice into the teacher she was meant to be, a teacher who could empathize and who could reach her students with an understanding most teachers of the deaf didn't possess.


	9. Chapter 9

"Momma, my tummy's rumbling for cake," Gideon said, pushing his spoon through his baked apples and creamed carrots.

"Then we need to sit down and have a talk with your tummy because he needs to eat vegetables first," Ruth said, struggling not to laugh.

"You better enjoy the fresh vegetables while you can," Kid said. "Fall don't last forever and then it'll be nothing but dried, canned, and pickled vegetables."

Mercy, bless her heart, never complained about what she ate though it was easy to tell what she liked and what she didn't from the expressions on her face. Isaiah was eating the apples but short of pinching his nose and shoveling it down for him, no coaxing in the world was going to make him eat it. She and Kid both had learned that a long time ago. Gideon was an easier sell. "Put it this way, son. No vegetables, no cake."

That prompted him into eating though he acted as if lifting his fork were an effort Sampson himself couldn't have tackled and the way he chewed one might get the idea he was chewing on rocks.

It was a Saturday, and Mrs. Price had invited the whole Cole family over to celebrate Lavina's birthday. Finished with the midday meal, they set off with Gideon wondering what kind of cake it would be and worrying over if it would be enough for everyone.

It was a vanilla cake bigger than any Gideon had ever seen much to his delight and strawberry punch, but what stuck out to Ruth was all the joyful conversation, silent and spoken that went on at the table.

The best part of the party, however, came when Angel pointed to herself, then she made a fist over her heart, and finally she pointed at her mother.

Rhonda Price had learned alongside her children after that first day of learning sign, and though she wasn't as fluent as her children because of her age and it not being her first language, she was proficient enough. She fell to her knees and repeated the statement before engulfing her in a hug. "Gilbert, she told me she loves me."

"Well, of course she does," Mr. Price said. "You're her mother, aren't you?" The words might have sounded sharp, but the tears softened them.

Rhonda hugged Ruth next. "I don't know how I can ever thank you for finding a teacher for our children." She had developed the habit of using her hands and voice when the children were in the room. She moved to Alice. "And thank you for teaching them."

Rhonda went over to Gideon, nudging him to get him to express his thanks.

"Thank you, Miss Knop. I may have been hasty in my judgment of you, Sister Ruth. You might or might not be able to heal, but it's plain to see you care about people, and you have helped them." Not overly glowing praise, but she could see she had redeemed herself in his eyes at least a little.

Angel repeated the "I love you", but this time to her father. With Rhonda's help, Gideon said it back. He could see that though they were beginning to learn to read English and though they would soon be trying oralism again that this sign was their natural language, their first language and how their hearts communicated. "Miss. Knop, do you think you could teach me a little of that sign?"

She affirmed she could.

There was a flurrying of I-love-yous that erupted throughout the family. When it was over, Ruth added "God loves you," and pointed to all the children.

"Who is God?" Calvin asked.

"The One who created the world. He is the Father of us all, and He loves us."

It wasn't a shocking statement to the younger children so much as they had known a little of God through their parents' love though the concept of God was somewhat new to them.

For Lavinia, the eldest, it was the piece to the puzzle she'd been missing of who had made the beautiful world around them though she'd felt instinctively that there was a higher power and that people learned about Him at church. She signed, "I go to church, but I don't learn about God."

Ruth had known it to be so, but it was heart-breaking to hear it from her. "I will tell you all anything you want to know."

"Who made God?" Elizabet asked.

"No one. He is outside of time. Everything in our world had a beginning, so it's hard for us to understand, but God didn't. He has always existed."

"Where is He?" Cordelia asked, looking as if He might appear in the room while they spoke.

If you looked the world over for more curious children who asked more questions, you wouldn't find them. They were eager to soak up the knowledge long denied them. "No place can hold Him. He is everywhere, but we will see Him with our eyes in a place called Heaven, but in the meantime, He gave us His Holy Spirit to be with us and help us tell others about Him and so we wouldn't be lonely for Him. He'll live inside us if we ask Him. And one day, we'll live with Him in Heaven if we love Him and ask Jesus to help us there."

"I thought God didn't care about deaf people," Lavina said with wonder rather than self-pity.

"Oh, but He does. When Jesus lived with men, He gave a deaf man his hearing, but He loved him while he was deaf. It was God's plan to make him so and to heal him. God's plan for you is different, but it will be just as wonderful."

"I know He does care now," Lavinia said, "because God gave us you and Teacher Alice, so that we can know Him. I believe He loves me."

There wasn't a dry eye among the adults. It wasn't just a physical birthday for Lavinia but a spiritual one as well.

With Alice helping her, she told them the old, old story of how much God had loved them enough to give them His only Son and how they could be saved. They craved it, and she couldn't remember when she'd had more attentive listeners.

 _Real Universe_

Sister Ruth and Kid Cole applauded as one of the ladies of the church came up to recite a poem she'd written. Ruth realized while she was doing it that clapping her hands together was a little silly. Some of the others had engaged in a silent cheer with their hands, and she switched to their way of doing it.

The woman's voice was very different. It was the sound of someone who couldn't hear themselves anymore but spoke with an ease that proved she'd been able to hear when she was young.

"Yes, build for us a fane,  
O friends! that may remain  
A noble token of your heaven-born love;  
Where, gather'd in that fold,  
The wanderer may behold  
The path that leads through care to bliss above.

Where we, the silent ones  
To whom sweet nature's tones  
Are like a sealed book to the curious eye,  
May learn, with thankful mind,  
Those cheering truths to find,

Whose power can draw the sting from sorrow's sigh."

It was a lovely, lengthy poem about the church. Ruth realized afterward in a way that she hadn't quite thought of before that being deaf was not a curse though perhaps a symptom of the Fall. Instead, it was an opportunity for the glory of God to come shining through as it was shining through the life of this woman, not in spite of her deafness but because of it. She did not pity these brothers and sisters, but she wanted to be a part of their ministry here to ensure those who couldn't hear with their ears heard the gospel with their heart.

"I want to donate a portion of our funds to this church," she whispered to Kid.

"I think it's a worthy cause, baby. You have my blessing."

The service ended with a hymn written by the reverend, and Ruth thought it summed up all their Christian walks quite nicely be they hearing or deaf, consumptive or whole.

"Through all my pilgrimage below,  
Whate'er my lot may be,  
In joy or sadness, weal or woe,  
Jesus, I'll turn to Thee."

The End

 **A/N: Rev. Galludet was a real historical person as was the lady who wrote the poem for the church's anniversary.** _ **St. Ann's Church for Deaf Mutes**_ **was the United States' first deaf church and remains an active church today.**


End file.
